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Using dualboot after the re-install of Debian Microsoft Vista could not be loaded anymore. It left me with a black screen stating that: c:\Windows\system32\winloader could not be found.

– For this I used a vista 64 installcd. (use x86 version if applicable) booted into recovery-mode which did not help me very much. At least it gave me terminal, which was all I needed. After reading through Microsoft technet I found a possible solution for this:
– From the prompt I entered the following command to check the BCD-file:
C:\Windows\System32\bcdedit /store c:BootBCD /enum
(It found my Vista install on C:)

It showed that something had corrupted the BCD-file setting some parameters to “unknown”
After entering these commands it worked again:

Go here.
Download both the 8.0 and 8.1 installers
Launch the 8.0 installer [Windows8-Setup.exe]
Enter your key for 8.0 and begin downloading
Immediately pause your download at 1% (don’t quit at the estimating time screen), then exit
Launch your 8.1 installer [WindowsSetupBox.exe]
You’ll get an error saying element can’t be found or something like that, you’re ok – just close out
Re-launch WindowsSetupBox.exe
You’re downloading 8.1

Create a Notepad text file and copy the following lines:

[EditionID]
Professional
[Channel]
Retail
[VL]
0

In this case because my installation is for Windows 8.1 Pro edition, I’m specifying “Professional” in the EditionID, for the core edition use the EdtionID Core.
Finally, save the text file as ei.cfg inside the SOURCES folder from the bootable drive you just created with the Windows 8.1 installation files.

This method will basically allow you to install Windows 8.1 Pro or Core edition as a trial for about 30 days without entering a Windows 8 product key during the installation — because, once again, it won’t work –.
But of course you have a valid retail key, so after everything is installed and configured, you can go to PC settings, PC & Devices, PC info, and here you can change and activate your product key.

According to Zalman FAQ of the product the previous message should indicate that the legacy MBR is followed by an EFI header and that it could be solved with: In “Disk Manager”, please delete current volume and make a new volume.

Unfortunately it didn’t work.
I was still left with a EFI partition at the beginning of my disk which I could not remove. I don’t know how it got there, I think by mistake connecting it to my MAC and adjusting partitions.
I decided to try diskpart from the commandline:

– Start an elevated CMD prompt
– To list all disks type:

list disk

– determine the disknumber
– select the disk with

select disk x

(where x is the correct disknumber)
– Delete all partitions:

clean

– I discovered that the disk was for some reason a GPT disk. It shouldn’t, so I converted it to MBR with:

convert mbr

Then I created an NTFS partition on the disk using diskmanager.
On that disk I created a directory: _iso en put in all the iso-files I needed
After disconnect en reconnect the drivedisplay no longer showed the error-message and the drive was functional again.